Beyond all Towers
by Isildae
Summary: Sam rescues Frodo from the Tower
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: See first part  
  
Summery: Sam recues Frodo from his dark Tower.  
  
Authors notes: I know this part is short, but I wanted to leave it wear it was, the next part will be longer. Also All dialog between characters is not mine, but comes straight from ROTK. Wasn't Tolkien the best!  
  
Feedback: Please Please Please! Even if you hate it I'd still love to know.  
  
Let down the bars, O Death!  
  
The tired flocks come in  
  
whose bleating ceases to repeat,  
  
whose wandering is done.  
  
Thine is the stillest night,  
  
Thine the securest fold;  
  
Too near thou art for seeking thee,  
  
Too tender to be told.  
  
Emily Dickinson  
  
II. Beyond all Towers  
  
"Ho la! You up there, you dunghill rat! Stop your squeaking, or I'll come and deal with you. D'you hear?"  
  
I was attempting desperately to be as quiet as a mouse, yet all seemed in vain. What if that really was Sam? What if was looking for me, and he passed me right by?? I squirmed and twitched beside my own will, Samwise had to know I was here!  
  
"Alright" I heard Snaga growl. Fear imbedded itself in my dry throat. "But I'll come and have a look at you all the same, and see what your up to."  
  
I froze. My breathe shortened...What hope was there for me now if that foul villain came between me and my only chance of deliverance. I cowered, sickened and woeful. The door creaked open and I lurched forward hiding my face with my arm, I was too horrified to what fate was before me.  
  
"You lie quiet, or you'll pay for it! You've not got long to live in peace, I guess; but if you don't want the fun to begin right now, keep your trap shut, See? There's a reminder for you!"  
  
What happened afterward is blur to my mind. Their was a flash of fire...Like a torch spangling in the dark...Then an explosion of pain flooded across the back of my neck, and my side. I did not scream, but the sound echoed in my mind... A blinding flash...And the firing crack of a whip...  
  
I was blind, and in terrible shock..Perhaps I swooned? Although I have little memory of it all. I remember seeing the lamp that hung from the wall sway forward and then back again, over and over like a mantra. It's sizzling light was red as blood, and engulfed the room with a crimson glare.  
  
A shadow hovered above me and I anticipated another afflicting blow, instead I heard a roar from afar that could only compare to the sound a blazened war cry!  
  
All that happened afterwards is unclear to me...There was the rush of impact, a scuffling...and then a dull hollow thud! I covered my face in fear and doubt...  
  
Then a miracle occured...When again my vision focussed and I could see, I could not believe what I saw...It was Sam...Sam...My Samwise!! It was all true and not a dream. My fear seeped from my veins. Nevermind that we were not home at Bag End, we were together now and no terror or torment could seperate us again.  
  
"Frodo! Mr. Frodo, my dear!" He cried...Tears were in his eyes...I wanted also to weep with him. "Its Sam, I've come!'  
  
And it truely was Sam...My sweet Sam in all his glory...And I dared not believe it! Yet then he pulled me into his gentle arms, and hugged me to his breast, and I gasped and open my eyes fully.  
  
"Am I still dreaming?" I breathed...I felt delirious and barely awake, barely alive! "But the other dreams were horrible," And they had been. My heart quailed because I finally felt at ease, I looked up at his warm friendly face, and I saw his cheeks were wet with tears...  
  
"Your not dreaming at all, Master," He said, smoothing my face with his comforting hands. "It's real. It's me. I've come."  
  
A Elbereth it was real! I think I laughed yet not out loud. "I can hardly believe it," I gasped clutching his arm for dear life. A part of me still feared my mind was playing tricks on me, and I prayed to Varda all that I saw was true. "There was an orc with a whip, and then it turns into Sam! Then I wasn't dreaming after all when I heard the singing down below, and I tried to answer? Was it you?" I remember I had shouted when I heard his song, and yet what I had said I do not know. Then I had been past all hope of miracles...  
  
"It was indeed, Mr. Frodo. I'd given up hope, almost. I couldn't find you." Sam's voice cracked at the latter. His eyes filled with grief. O' Sam! How far had he searched for me...How far did he go to find me? What awful perils had he faced?? O' how I loved him! My wonderful, glorious Sam!!  
  
"Well, you have now, Sam, dear Sam," In my heart I longed to comfort him, yet outwardly I was ashamed. He had come so far, and been so strong, never, never giving up. Yet I had almost lost my will...I had almost been broken...  
  
I was so tired...So very weary...I yearned for solace. Just for one moment, merely a second to peace. It had been so long since I had lived without fear and without pain, all I asked for was a moment...Just one...  
  
I layed back in Sams arms, wanting to feel nurtured and loved. I closed my eyes slowly, savoring the sweetness amongst so much bitterness, and for the moment I slept, feeling safe while around me I knew there to be danger still... 


	2. The Will of the Watchers part 1

This is somewhat belated, but I thought I would add it anyway. There's another part which comes right after it as well. I just wanted to say how happy I was to get such positive reviews, your all so very sweet. I honestly didn't think anyone would like my writing and I nearly didn't post it! I'm just happy you enjoyed it...This wasn't easy to write, as it drained a lot of emotion from me. Anyway here's part 2:  
  
  
  
I have no life but this  
  
To lead it here;  
  
Nor any death, but lest  
  
Dispelled from there;  
  
Nor tie to earths to come,  
  
Nor action new,  
  
Except through this extent,  
  
The realm of you.  
  
Emily Dickinson  
  
  
  
III. The Will of the Watchers(part1)  
  
I awaken with a kiss to my forehead...I am touched with the blessedness of his lips, and again I feel the suspension of utter delight. "Come! Wake up, Mr. Frodo!," he said. His voice was luminous, as though he were trying to raise my spirits with the sound of joy. I am convinced as I sit up with a contented sigh. I feel refreshed...  
  
"Where are we? How did we get here?" I ask, though my voice sounds slurred as though from disuse. It seems ages since I have said anything to anyone without first having to scream in terror.  
  
"There's no time for tales till we get somewhere else, Mr. Frodo!" he said, in a terrible hurry it seemed. Poor dear...I wasn't helping the situation at all I realized, I simply couldn't lie here in this useless state forever...  
  
"But your in the top of that tower you and me saw from far away down by the tunnel before the orcs got you." Sam continued to say, looking round him, then back at me. Worry lined his features. "How long ago that was I don't know. More than a day, I guess."  
  
"Only that?" I choke...It seemed like years upon years upon years..."It seems weeks. You must tell me about it, if we get a chance. Something hit me, didn't it? And I fell into darkness and foul dreams, and woke and found that waking was worse. Orcs were all around me. I think they had been pouring some horrible burning liquid down my throat. My head grew clear, but I was aching and weary. They stripped me of everything; and then two great brutes came and questioned me, questioned me until I thought I should go mad, standing over me, gloating, fingering their knives. I'll never forget their claws and eyes."  
  
No no no no no no...I couldn't say more...I could not bear it. I covered my ears against the rush of cruel noise that flowed through my aching head. A flash of orc eyes blinded my vision...Would these torments never leave me? Would I carry this burden for all of my days. I felt tortured and fretfully weak, and I knew that I had begun to tremble like a frightened rabbit.  
  
"You wont, if you talk about them, Mr. Frodo," said Sam gently putting his hand beneath my shoulder, as if he meant to lift me. "And if we don't want to see them again, the sooner we get going the better. Can you walk?" He asked kindly, though insistently. I knew I could not waver, and I would not. I had to be strong as well...  
  
"Yes, I can walk," I lift my weight up slowly, then I stand on ginger feet, limping a little and wincing at the heavy stiffness of my limbs. "I am not hurt, Sam. Only I feel very tired, and I've pain here." I place my hand warily on the back of my neck, which burns with a fiery heat...It is sore and bleeding. I stride across the room more than once, though my legs wobble as though they were made of jelly. My stomach turns a little...  
  
"That's better!" I say, trying to smile without wincing. "I didn't dare move when I was left alone, or one of the guards came. Until the yelling and the fighting began. The two big brutes: they quarrelled, I think. Over me and my things. I lay here terrified. And then all went deadly quiet, and that was worse."  
  
I remembered them touching me...And then the stillness, and the silence...My stomach churns...  
  
"Yes they must have quarrelled, seemingly," said Sam. "There must have been a couple of hundred of the dirty creatures in this place. A bit of a tall order for Sam Gamgee, as you might say. But they've done all the killing themselves. That's lucky, but its too late to make a song about it, till we're out of here. Now what's to be done? You can't go walking in the Black Lands in naught but your skin, Mr. Frodo."  
  
The horror of all that had happened hits me at the starkness of his words...Yes my clothes are gone...My precious things stolen...My body corrupted...My soul... 'O my soul...All is gone...Gone gone gone...Where is my life if all that I love is gone...Where is my soul when they have taken all that I am??  
  
"They've taken everything, Sam," My body erupts with a tumult of emotion, sparks of fire blast before my eyes..."Everything I had (Everything I am) Do you understand? Everything!" with that said I sink to the floor, I am spent, overwhelmed. Never has my life been so void of simpleness...I am burdened with complexities I can scarcely grasp, and I am beaten down with them. How I longed for the Shire...And Pippin and Merry and Farmer Maggot, and all that is innocent, and just, and pure...How I long to be pure again...  
  
"The quest has failed, Sam. Even if we get out of here, we can't escape. Only Elves can escape. Away, away out of Middle-earth, far away over the Sea. If even that is wide enough to keep the Shadow out."  
  
Damn the Elves! Damn Them!! I can remember the Lady of Lorien. Safe in her realm...Golden...Untouched by the darkness...Where was she when I suffered here? Where now was Galadriel, and her magical looking-glass??  
  
"No not everything, Mr. Frodo. And it hasn't failed, not yet. I took it, Mr. Frodo, begging your pardon. And I've kept it safe. It's round my neck now, and a terrible burden it is, too." Sam was muttering and fumbling with his shirt...I did not understand...He couldn't have taken It...It couldn't be here...Now?  
  
"You've got it?" I gasp, my mind reeling with untamed thoughts. "You've got it here? Sam your a marvel!"  
  
And then it comes to me...My cheeks flush as blood runs to my face. My eyes go suddenly blind, and all seems suddenly queer...  
  
"Give it to me!" I shout...My voice sounds cruel in my own ears...My hand trembles as I reach out to him. "Give it to me at once! You can't have it!"  
  
I look into Sam's doe-eyed face...Like a mound of molded clay it seems to me. He looks foolish, stupid, a dolt! By Varda I almost hate him!! He has it, he's been keeping it from me...My love...my own...my preciousss...  
  
"Alright, Mr. Frodo," he says, and he seems shaken and out of sorts. He takes out the Ring...My Ring...  
  
"But you're in the land of Mordor now, sir; and when you get out, you'll see the Fiery Mountain and all. You'll find the Ring very dangerous now, and very hard to bear. If its too hard too a job, I could share it with you, maybe?"  
  
My body surges with fury. How? How dare he mock me! I'm not a fool...Does he now think his Master an idiot?? He would keep it for himself that's what! He would keep it...He means to rob me...  
  
"No, no!" I cry, lunging for the ring, and snatching it away from him. "No you won't, you theif!"  
  
I am furious...delirious...My malice is as a boiling kettle which has erupted in the bowls of my heart! But then...The room quivers...And all seems to clear before by twisted vision...What was I saying...what...what? I look at Sam in the lamplight, and he is cowering before me on his knees...Why whatever happened? His face seems old and grim with grief, much older than it should...Tears form in his weary eyes...  
  
"O Sam!" I am peirced with guilt...I have hurt him somehow...My only friend in a land full of enemies...My only love...And it is as though I have stabbed him in the heart!  
  
"What have I said? What have I done? Forgive me! After all you have done. It is the horrible power of the Ring. I wish it had never, never, been found. But don't mind me, Sam. I must carry this burden to the end. it can't be altered. You can't come between me and this doom."  
  
"That's all right, Mr. Frodo," He said, with an encouraging smile, wiping his sleeve across his tear-stained eyes. He is really incorrigable, and it cannot be helped. He is far too good a Hobbit for someone like me, and I know it...He should have left me to my fate long ago...He should have turned away from me and never looked back...  
  
"I understand. But I can still help, can't I? I've got to get you out of here. At once, see! But first you want some clothes and gear, and then some food. The clothes will be the easiest part. As we're in Mordor, w'ed best dress up Mordor-fashion; and anyway there isn't no choice,It'll have to be orc-stuff for you, Mr. Frodo, I'm afraid. And for me too. If we go together, we'd best match. Now put this round you!"  
  
He said as he unclasped his elven-cloak and wrapped it about my shoulders. He smiled at me as he re-clasped the lorien-brooch, and I felt ever so much better. Infact I felt like weeping because I instantly felt such a warmth and comfort, and these were both things I had not felt in so very, very long. Bless Sam and his goodness. O how I need him in such a time as this...And bless the Lady Galadriel and The Elves!  
  
Sam was emptying his pack, when he drew out Sting from its sheath. I gasped! I had forgotten about Uncle Bilbo's sword!! I had felt so brave when it was with me...I had felt as though I were a warrior in battle. How I wish it had been with me here...In this dreadful place, when I had needed it most...  
  
"I was forgetting this Mr. Frodo," Sam said "No, they didn't get everything! You lent me Sting, if you remember, and the Lady's glass. I've got them both still. But lend them yo me a little longer, Mr. Frodo. I must go and see what I can find. You stay here. Walk about a bit and ease your legs. I shan't have to go far."  
  
Take care, Sam!" I said "And be quick!" There may be orcs still alive, lurking in wait."  
  
"Ive got to chance it" he said and he was gone. The moment he slipped down the ladder I had already rushed to the corner, where I retched, and retched till my body was purged of all the filth it had ingested...I found myself in the dark once more...Still in pain, while my heart still grieved... 


	3. The Will of the Watchers part 2

Thank you thankyou thankyou everyone who reviewed my work so far, your all so gracious and wondeful...I love you all! I know my story's kind of fragmented...That's because I wrote it for a friend who hasn't read ROTK yet and I don't want to give away the ending for her, so I haven't quite decided how to end this...Should I skip ahead, ignoring Mt. Doom, and just start with Sam waking up to find himself safe, and Gandalf alive?? Debating that..or should I write about the escape from the Tower and the journey to Mt. Doom??? Well that's for all of you decide...Where would you like me to go with this??..You give me your opinion and I'd be happy to try it out. By the way I know this ends rather blah-like, but it's how I wanted it...I hope to pick up later with a better chapter.  
  
  
  
  
  
I never hear the word "escape"  
  
Without a quicker blood,  
  
A sudden expectation,  
  
A flying attitude.  
  
I never hear of prisons broad  
  
By soldiers battered down,  
  
But I tug childish at my bars,--  
  
Only to fail again!  
  
Emily Dickinson  
  
III. The Will of the Watchers(part 2)  
  
Sam was not gone for more than a moment, when I saw his head reappear from beyond the ladder. He hastily dropped a long knife on the floor, huffing and puffing as he went, bustling about like an old housemaid in the kitchen.  
  
"Theres something that might be useful" he said with a quick sigh. "He's dead: the one that whipped you. Broke his neck, it seems, in his hurry. Now you draw up the ladder, if you can Mr. Frodo; and don't you let it down till you hear me call the pass-word. Elbereth I'll call. What the Elves say. No orc would say that."  
  
When he was gone again I sat and let my mind wander into thoughts of darkness...I felt the room go chill and stale, and I felt despair dripping along my spine...  
  
What would happen next? I wondered. Was it possible for the two of us to make it out of here alive?? O what was the use...It was all hopeless anyway...Soon another band of orcs would find us here, and capture us, and use us as horrendously as they had used me alone..  
  
O Poor Samwise! He'd struggle till the end, if that came about...I know he would...He'd never let anyone touch him like that--Touch me like that! He'd never let anyone harm me...Not if he could help it. It would all turn out quite badly in the end...  
  
I stood up and drew the cloak about me, shivering in the dark. I felt lost suddenly...Lost like I had in Moria...Even with my Company around me, all felt void of friendliness...And familiarity. All had felt hopeless then...And now...Now all felt like a waste of energy, a burdening weight of senselessness! I paced the floor in a foolish attempt to keep occupied. I felt so useless...Like baggage that has to be dragged everywhere. Sam must tire of me already...  
  
I heard creaks and noises all around me...The cell was like a tomb, where the dead still walked... And I was afraid! And full of sudden shame at my fright. I had faced so much worse than this hadn't I?? No...This was the worst...This was the ultimate trial. And I had failed it...I had failed this last test...  
  
"Elbereth, Elbereth." I heard Sam softly calling from below...His voice was an echoing whisper which bounced from wall to wall, quietly, yet audibly.  
  
Quickly I let down the ladder. My cordination still out of sorts, and it fell from my hands rather crookedly. Sam hauled his weight up, swiftly, and he was soon out of breathe. He carried a heavy bundle that made his shoudlers sag, just a little.  
  
Sam let the bag fall to the ground, seemingly exausted. I didn't like the look of his weariness, and I furrowed my brows...He had come so very far without rest...  
  
"Quick now, Mr. Frodo!" he said panting. "I've had a bit of a search to find anything small enough for the likes of us. W'ell have to make do. But we must hurry. I've met nothing alive, and I've seen nothing, but I'm not easy. I think this place is being watched. I can't explain it, but well: it feels to me as if one of those foul flying Riders was about, up in the blackness where he can't be seen."  
  
It was then that he unwrapped the heavy bundle, emptying its contents carefully and with haste. I look in horror...  
  
I cannot wear these things: Filth ridden orc clothes...I was already stained! How could I bear to wear the cast-off's of the very creatures who had sullied me!! My breathe grew short...I think I nearly blacked-out.  
  
They had a smell to them...An odour which never really left my memory. A kind of dank...Dead scent...Which filled one's nostrils with utter disgust and revulsion. I stood dismayed, and Sam looked to me with such pity.  
  
He nodded to me as if to say "It's all right Mr. Frodo, buck-up!" and I swallowed hard...It was no use, I tryed to tell myself...I could naked no longer, and it was either this or nothing at all.  
  
And so I dressed slowly, casting aside Sam's elven-cloak and handing it to him gratefully. I drew the long shaggy breeches up to my hips, and gasped a little, for they prickeled so that they almost stabbed against my bare legs. The leather-tunic was the worst, and it was stinking, and stuck to the sweat on my skin. I topped it off with coat of mail, thick, and heavy, and burdensome. It was too long and it felt has though I carried a whole other body with me, it would all be a terrible trial to bear.  
  
I wore also a belt, and orc-helmet. Both weighing a ton, and made me feel cramped and uncomfortable. I couldn't imagine walking far, wearing so much gear, and yet I had to try!  
  
Samwise was talking and I wasn't listening: something about me making a perfect little orc? No matter...I was just trying to figure out how to move about without falling on my face! He wrapped a larger, thicker cloak around me and I balked--Wonderful! I could hardly budge as it is...  
  
"Now you're ready! You can pick up a shield as we go." Sam said nonchalantly...I almost laughed.  
  
"What about you, Sam?" I asked. Eyeing him closely, and curiously,. "Aren't we going to match?" I asked  
  
He gave a small shrug "Well, Mr. Frodo, I've been thinking, I'd best not leave any of my stuff behind, and we can't destroy it. And I can't wear orc- mail over all my clothes can I? I'll just have to cover up."  
  
So he dressed quickly, covering up as best he could though his gear was lighter than mine. "There! he said. "Now we match, near enough. And now we must be off!"  
  
I sighed and shook my head, and I couldn't help but tease:  
  
"I can't go all the way at a run, Sam, I hope you've made inquiries about inns along the road? Or have you forgotten about food and drink?" I gave him a wry smile...  
  
"Save me, but so I had!" he said guiltily. "Bless me, Mr. Frodo, but you've gone and made me hungry and thirsty! I don't know when drop or morsel last passed my lips. I'd forgotten it, trying to find you. But let me think! Last time I looked I'd got about enough of that waybread, and of what Captain Faramir gave us, to keep me on my legs for a couple of weeks at a pinch. But if there's a drop left in my bottle, there's no more.That's not going to to be enough for two, nohow..."  
  
Dear old Sam...He was worried, and heartsick with care, and that made me frown. He was hungry, and thirsty, and tired and I could do him no right by it. And after all he had gone through to save me, we both had to live up to the fact that would both die of starvation before we ever reached it...Before we ever attained my destiny...  
  
But I refused to let his hopes sink...If mine were lost, atleast he would still hold faith in his glass...  
  
I showed him what little food I had with me, whatever morsels were left, and he seemed pleased and in better spirits...  
  
"Well, there's no more to be said," He said gravely, yet still in a rush. "we've got enough to start on. But the water's going to be bad business. But come, Mr. Frodo! Off we go, or a whole lake of it wont do us any good!"  
  
I stopped him though, and looked him over. His face looked drawn and careworn, and I knew he had not broken his fast for longer than he said. Well that wouldn't do. That wouldn't do at all!  
  
"Not till you've a mouthful, Sam. I won't budge. Here, take this elven- cake, and drink that last drop in your bottle! The whole thing is quite hopless, so it's no good worrying about tomorrow. It probably won't come."  
  
And I must have looked sadder than I meant to, for Sam drew me close to him, and smoothed my brow with his dirty hand...And he didn't say anything but looked at me closely, scruntinizingly, summing me up...  
  
"Have hope Mr. Frodo...I need for you to have hope..." he murmured but he left it at that. And I had hope enough just to have him near me...It was all I'd ever really need. It all didn't seem so bad...All the worry, and the care, and the torment. Not when he held me like that... 


End file.
